A Luxury Gold journey is supported by a dedicated, professional and highly trained team both on the road and by a global office-based operations team. We are talking to Jillian Gattrell our Director of Operations for Luxury Gold who will be sharing our latest innovation the Luxury Gold Well-Being Director.
Can you please introduce yourself and give us an insight into your role?
My name is Jillian Gattrell and I am the Director of Operations for Luxury Gold. I’m currently based in the London office of The Travel Corporation and have been with the company for close to 15 years in a number of differing roles. In my current position I am responsible for overseeing the smooth operations of our Luxury Gold trips. This ranges from Traveling Concierge training and management, supporting the on-the-road team during journeys and dealing with crisis situations.
Can you tell us how Covid-19 has impacted operations for Luxury Gold?
As you may know in the beginning of the year borders in Europe were shut nearly overnight which led to us repatriating guests home at incredibly short notice. Assessing the situation as it was evolving, The Travel Corporation’s leadership team then deciding to suspend all operations to ensure we were staying true to our ethos of putting the guest’s experience at the heart of everything we do. As we don’t have trips on the road currently my team is working hard to adapt to our new normal for when journeys restart.
What would you say to guests who would like to travel but might have some concerns traveling in the pandemic?
Firstly, I am sympathetic. This year has been incredibly challenging on a number of fronts, but I am one of those people who always sees the positive in any situation. In recent weeks we’ve heard of promising vaccines and in some countries infection rates are coming down.
Travel ignites our imaginations, lets us share in authentic experiences with locals and, when on a guided tour, with like-minded individuals in a group setting. I think focusing on the positives of travel and what it brings to us is paramount to getting over the first hurdle of planning a trip. There has recently been research that suggests that it is less likely to contract Covid-19 on a plane than by going grocery shopping12. What I would also like to stress is that at Luxury Gold we have always had very strict protocols on safety and hygiene.
Can you please go into more details about Hygiene Protocols & Distancing?
PRE-TOUR HEALTH DECLARATION
All team members and guests will complete a personal well-being declaration before joining their tour. If a guest has tested positive for COVID-19 (or is traveling with someone who has), they will not be able to join the tour until cleared as “fit for travel” by a medical professional.
SMALLER GROUPS, MORE PERSONAL SPACE
With our smaller groups and uniquely reconfigured coaches with fewer seats, you can travel as part of a social travel bubble and still maintain your physical distance and benefit from more personal space.
AIR FILTERS
Our coaches are equipped with air filters that are inspected and cleaned daily and replaced regularly. The on-board filters help purify the air as you travel.
QUALITY ASSURANCE
Quality checks will ensure that all travel partners meet local regulations and the established TTC, WTTC and WHO.
HYGIENE EQUIPMENT
Hand sanitizer is accessible and freely available. We ask that you bring your own face mask and gloves, but in the case of emergency, personal protective equipment will be distributed to you.
SANITIZED SURFACES
All frequently touched surfaces inside your coach — including handrails, doors, tables, overhead lockers — plus your luggage handles, will be disinfected multiple times each day.
VIP ACCESS
Visit landmark sites before and after hours, when they’re not open to the other travelers, so you can explore in a small group and maintain your physical distance
Our Traveling Concierge and drivers have been trained to the highest standards and now will have an extra team member to ensure the delivery of our enhanced hygiene protocols, the Well-Being Director.
Can you please introduce the Well-Being Director?
There will be a Well-Being Director on each of our Luxury Gold Trips in 2021 in all regions*. They are an industry first, brilliantly conceived by our Chairman, Mr. Stanley Tollman. Using his great experience in the travel and leisure industry he understood that our Traveling Concierge need to provide our guests with outstanding experiences, our drivers with the task at hand when we go back on the road and therefore we needed an extra team member to look after our guests’ well-being and support them in navigating travel during the pandemic.
How does the Well-Being Director help with the new normal that we’re in?
The Well-Being Director takes a proactive approach to guests’ welfare and dedicates their attention to the latest hygiene and physical distancing protocols throughout a journey. Up to date with the latest regulations from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), World Health Organization (WHO) and local government authorities, they are always available to overcome any concerns. The Well-Being Director will support your Traveling Concierge and driver in making your holiday perfect for you, so you have peace of mind to enjoy your experience fully. The Well-Being Director will always be available to you and ready to answer any questions or concerns relating to your well-being. They’ll be specially trained to provide you with latest information on international developments and guidelines that contribute to your well-being while traveling.
How can the Well-Being Director give confidence to our guests to join one of our journeys?
The Well-Being Director will undertake daily monitoring and health checks of all guests, as well as the Traveling Concierge and driver. They’ll also support the driver in daily sanitization of the coach and ensure all hygiene, physical distancing and well-being regulations are met each day.
Will the Well-Being Director deal with Luxury Gold’s suppliers?
As part of The Travel Corporation (TTC), we’ve strengthened our already high health and hygiene standards, reflecting our 100 years of guided vacation and hospitality experience. Our latest protocols are aligned with the guidelines provided by the WTTC and WHO. The Well-Being Director is responsible for checking that all hotels, restaurants and other venues that you will visit on your holiday meet these expected standards.
Some of our guests might be worried about sanitization of luggage, can you speak to that?
The Well-Being Director will provide personal support with luggage management throughout a guest’s holiday, ensuring all handles are sanitized during loading and unloading.
What other services will the Well-Being Director offer?
The Well-Being Director is also available to help with spa and beauty appointments at the hotel and to lead early risers on wellness walks as fitting within the itineraries.
Lastly, could you please share a personal learning from these past months?
Our Chairman says ‘This too shall pass’ and although we would like for Covid-19 to disappear so we can all get back to doing the things we love, I know that even if the disease isn’t eradicated the saying stays true. I don’t have the same length of experience as Mr. Stanley Tollman but I have lived through other big disruptions in travel such as the Volcanic Plume of 2010 or even the SARS outbreak in the early 2000s, or, other incidents to know that ultimately travel will survive and thrive because it is what brings people together. The perfect cure for the upheaval of 2020? Planning your next Luxury Gold journey!
Learn More About the Steps Luxury Gold and TTC are taking to give you Peace of Mind on our Well-Being pages of the website.
As we approach the end of 2020, we look back with a sigh at the year of travel that was not – then turn our focus to dreams of future travel.
Like you, those of us at The Travel Corporation have been watching closely for signs of progress on vaccines against Covid-19, even as we implement the innovations for traveler hygiene and wellbeing described by Gavin Tollman in October’s blog posting. While each of us will need to decide exactly when we are ready to journey onwards, one thing is clear – we will travel again. Difficult and frustrating as this year has been, it has not diminished our desire to travel. If anything, this time of limited movement and isolation has increased our desire for the freedom to explore distant destinations and rediscover the world.
For this month’s blog post, we thought it fitting to look forward, wondering what might be different when we do travel again. The challenges we face in life transform us, leading to learning and growth, and that is especially true with challenges of the magnitude of those we have been through this year, which have had such an impact on all of us.
How might this period of time shape our future travels?
For insights on this question, we turned to TreadRight’s Travel Ambassadors, Céline Cousteau, Sarain Fox, and Ami Vitale, three of the most inspired and inspiring travelers in the world. They represent the three pillars of our company’s non-profit, TreadRight Foundation – Planet, People, and Wildlife, respectively. We invited each to tell us a little about what this time of limited travel has been like for them – and their thoughts on when we travel again.
Céline S. Cousteau, TreadRight’s Planet Ambassador As a documentary filmmaker and gifted storyteller, Céline has travelled the world working to help amplify the voices of the amazing individuals who are doing more to protect ecosystems, wildlife, and people. The daughter of ocean explorer and filmmaker Jean-Michel Cousteau and granddaughter of the legendary Jacques Yves Cousteau, Céline brings a profound understanding of the importance of legacy and the necessity to experience the world in a way that ensures future generations will have the opportunity to do the same. She has recently published her first book, in French, Le monde après mon grand-père (The World After My Grandfather).
“People protect what they love.”
This is what my grandfather taught us all. I believe this is why immersive travel experiences are so important, for they help us come to know our beautiful, fragile planet – and fall in love with it.
I have been thinking about this more lately, from my home in a small village in southern France. Since I returned here from travels last March, my journeys have been local, as you can see in this TreadRight video. As I write this, France has just entered a second lockdown.
We are but one of so many places that have slowed down or shut down now, which is especially difficult for communities worldwide that depend on travel and tourism. So many people are suffering, faced with uncertainty and loss of employment. While I am TreadRight’s Planet Ambassador, in truth it is impossible to see our planet as disconnected from people and wildlife too. During this pandemic I have thought particularly of the challenges faced by the women ofIraq-al-Amir, a TreadRight sponsored project in Jordan. Having worked with these women to build a business selling their beautiful, authentic creations to travelers, including guests of TTC brands such as Uniworld, Insight Vacations, Luxury Gold, Trafalgar, and Contiki, I know this past year has been exceedingly difficult for them.
Challenging as it has been, my hope is that this pandemic will serve as a reset for us humans, helping us to appreciate what a magnificent privilege travel is, and how fortunate we are to live on Earth. I have always thought of humans as just another species on our planet, one of many, but we’ve rarely seen ourselves in this light, nor have we treated our planet with the love it deserves. Now, as we see how an unseen virus can impact every country/culture/people/ population in the world, let us take this as a powerful reminder of just how interconnected we all are.
My hope is that when we do travel again, we will do so more thoughtfully, consciously, and intentionally. Businesses, for example, may discover that while some meetings ultimately require a flight half-way around the world, others can be as well accomplished on a video call. Travel should be special, a chance to go to places and have experiences that can only be done in person. And, when you do go somewhere – make the most of it.
This process of re-thinking travel is one that TreadRight and TTC have been engaged in since well before the pandemic. It led to the TreadRight Pledge to Make Travel Matter – if you’ve not yet taken it, I invite you to do so, as a guide to your future travels. But please, don’t just sign it – let it be a mantra that moves you to take action. I also invite you to look at the plan we have just released, How We Tread Right, our ambitious five year sustainability roadmap, which also identifies the 11 of the 17 United Nations’ sustainability goals which we will continue to contribute to and benefit. And, when we travel again, we will be introducing many more special Make Travel Matter (MTM) experiences over the next several years.
As you consider your future travels, I further invite you to think of the many ways to ensure your travel has a positive impact. Start by bringing your own water bottle and cutlery, as encouraged by our single use plastics elimination initiative. Rather than shopping for new clothes before you travel, buy them when you arrive, thereby supporting local businesses in these destinations. Give back to local initiatives when you can as well.
Most of all, when you do travel, take the time to really connect with the people you meet. Listen to their stories, then bring them back to share with others. So you – like my grandfather and I – can be an ambassador for our planet, helping others learn to love and protect it – when we travel again.
Sarain Fox – TreadRight’s People Ambassador Born in Batchawana First Nation in Canada, Sarain Fox is an Anishinaabe dancer, broadcaster, and activist and one of Canada’s most prominent Indigenous voices. She has worked professionally as a dancer and is a graduate of the New York Film Academy. Sarain’s work is rooted in her passion to represent and lift up Indigenous people and her commitment to climate justice, which includes her position as a board member for the Center of Biodiversity. Sarain believes that everything we do in our lives should contribute to positive change.
When I was two years old, my mother did something radical. She gave me a name. Not the kind of name that goes on your birth certificate – a name to connect me to our people, who are storytellers.
Wabunangokwe.
It is a name with many meanings – Truth teller. Reconciler. The star in the East. Light at the end of the dark.
As TreadRight’s People Ambassador, it is my privilege and responsibility to be all these things, starting by telling you the truth about how this pandemic has impacted native communities we support. While not an easy truth, per the other meaning in my name, there is light at the end of the dark.
For my people, this is not our first pandemic. As with so many indigenous tribes just a century or two ago, those early settlers arrived with diseases including tuberculosis and small pox that killed many of our people. Some of these were intentional, offering infected blankets as “gifts.” Our grandparents tell stories of these times. They therefore make us sensitive to what we may bring with us, whether we know it or not, when we travel.
Covid-19 is a virus that teaches us all this same lesson. We must all become more conscious of what we carry with us when we travel. As the name TreadRight implies, this is our purpose. While I’ve always tried to be a conscious traveler, these past months have given me an even greater understanding and appreciation of what it means to have the privilege of visiting another person’s homeland, knowing the harm we can do if we are not careful.
TreadRight exists to make travel a force for good, as in the example of a project I have worked with here in Toronto, Manitobah Mukluks Storyboot School.
Based at the Bata Shoe museum, the project is a win-win situation. Artisans create beautiful footwear, and receive one hundred per cent of the proceeds from their work. What’s more, they teach traditional methods to indigenous students and visitors from around the world, so the culture is passed on. It has been a regular stop for guests of TTC companies such as Trafalgar,Insight Vacations, Contiki, and Costsaver. The picture above is of me learning from my dear friend Sage Petahtegoose, a craftswoman and teacher at the school. You can also see a short video we made about the school here.
The arrival of Covid-19 instantly ground the classes to a halt, shutting down the program. Very soon, sixty per cent of the staff, including Sage, were laid off. I think of the challenges that Sage and others have faced with the loss, both of income and of shared culture. This is just one of many such TreadRight programs around the world promoting indigenous culture through crafts, including Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco, (Peru), Ock Pop Tok Village Weavers (Laos), and Tria, Etc. (Greece). All these programs await the return of travelers, though I am pleased to confirm that TreadRight did fund all of its projects this year.
And yet, such challenging times bring gifts as well. I have noticed that with offices closed and people working from home, vulnerability has become more acceptable. We are becoming more honest about who we are – our race, our gender, our diversity. Now is a time when we are invited to see the truth. This attitude toward openness and honesty is good for the world. It lets us open our doors to the world and share our stories.
This has been the case for me, personally, as a storyteller. I have long meant to make a documentary telling the stories of my Auntie Marie, the oldest living matriarch in my family. I have just completed “Inendi,” which tells her story. What’s more, as you can see in the picture below, I was able to hire Sage as camerawoman for the film, another outlet for her creative spirit.
This is the way it is in hard times – even when doors are closed, the creative spirit finds a way. That is the spirit which keeps me optimistic. It is the star in the east, the light at the end of the dark, and the one that will guide us – when we travel again.
Ami Vitale, TreadRight’s Willdlife Ambassador Ami Vitale’s journey as a photographer, writer and filmmaker has taken her to over 100 countries where she has witnessed civil unrest and violence, but also surreal beauty and the enduring power of the human spirit. Ami is a founding member of Ripple Effect Images, a collective of scientists, writers, photographers and filmmakers with a mission of creating powerful stories illustrating the very specific issues women in developing countries face. She is also an Ambassador for Nikon and a National Geographic magazine photographer, explorer and speaker. Her talks shed light on the conservation value that tourism holds for wildlife – when done right.
Nature has sent us a strong message with this pandemic, reminding us just how small and deeply interconnected our world is. This is a powerful moment to reimagine our relationship to nature and to one another.
In the early days of the pandemic, we were hearing heartwarming stories. It seemed that wildlife was getting a much needed break from humans and thriving in the era of lockdowns. Finally, we thought, animals were able to roam freely in our cities and national parks!
Unfortunately, the reality was much different. Tourism is what has largely funded major conservation projects around the world, protecting wildlife, restoring habitats and creating awareness. When travel crashed this past spring, so did the much needed protection for these animals and ecosystems. Contrary to popular belief, an empty national park is not always a good thing for wildlife. During this pandemic we have seen a dramatic rise in poaching in wildlife parks. What people need to understand is that tourism is what keeps wildlife alive in many parts of the world – including giant pandas, as in my photograph below – and international travel is essential for that. You can see examples of this connection in TreadRight projects such as Wildlife SOS, the WCS Big Cat Fund, and The Endangered Wildlife Trust.
When we travel again, I hope people will focus on traveling responsibly, to destinations that act to sustain wildlife areas, choosing companies that put money back into supporting habitats and ecosystems. We may also wish to think about the range and pace of our travels. When we go abroad, rather than trying to see it all, we need to slow down and really engage with one place at a time. In addition to reducing our environmental footprint, this kind of travel is what allows us to truly build relationships with people and places, creating authentic connections.
My own travels have slowed dramatically since the start of the pandemic. I have lived out of my suitcase and on the road for many years, and for the past few years have been home no more than 21 days in a year. The pandemic changed all that overnight, as it did for the rest of the world, when my work came to a grinding halt. Difficult as this has been, there has been an upside as well. Like so many these times, I have turned my attention to exploring my own back yard. For me, that is Montana, which is rich in wildlife, as you can see in this TreadRight video and the photograph at the very top of this blog, as well as the one below, taken in Centennial Valley.
People connect to the horses in Montana’s Centennial Valley just outside of Yellowstone National Park in July, 2020. Here, people seem to measure worth by how comfortable you are around animals and they are around you. I have seen young toddlers on horseback nestled between mother and mane. By the age of two, they are nuzzling calves. Children learn to throw a rope before they can talk. It is a place where people are shaped by the land itself and they in turn help shape the land. (Photo by Ami Vitale)
While this pandemic has been devastating in so many ways, it has also shown us how we are able to unite and act as individuals for the collective good. This is a moment when we can look outside ourselves and take individual action for the good of the planet. With the sudden stopping of travel this year, I wanted to find a way to raise much needed funds for communities and conservation. I reached out to some of my favorite photographers and asked for their support to start a fine art prints sale. Have a look at Printsfornature.com, where you’ll see stunning prints by some of the most acclaimed photographers in the world, who have all donated their work. All these prints are available for purchase for holiday gift giving, with 100% of the proceeds benefiting Conservation International. It is a unique way to collect fine art for a fraction of what it normally costs, and your purchase will be helping wildlife around the planet.
In the end, saving nature is really about saving ourselves. Our fates are linked and interconnected. We all need to do all we can to care for the plants and critters that inhabit the earth. They are fellow travelers, and our only friends, in this cold dark universe. Our future happiness depends on them.
Let us keep that in mind – when we travel again.
When We Travel Again
When We Travel Again…We shall go forth with renewed gratitude for the amazing gift that travel can be – and the awe that comes from finding ourselves at home in places we have never been.
When We Travel Again…We will see the world through new eyes and deepened appreciation for this truly magnificent planet we all share. Not only will we take in the sights, but we will hear the sounds. Breathe in the smells. And savor the tastes – all waiting to be experienced.
When We Travel Again…We will do so with renewed joy and purpose – Joy as we create memories that last a lifetime, and purpose that comes from knowing our travels play a crucial role in the recovery of communities we visit around the world.
When We Travel Again…We will venture forth with open hearts, letting ourselves be guided by wonder and curiosity ready to connect to those we meet along the way – our hosts, our guides, and our fellow travelers, joined together in a journey of discovery.
When We Travel Again…We will make travel matter more than ever before. Knowing that how we travel is just as important as where, as we explore this wild and precious planet we call home, meet people around the globe who welcome us into their homes. And discover magnificent wild creatures whose homes we visit.
When We Travel Again…We will journey to places both near and far with those we love – our partners, our parents, our children, and grandchildren and dear friends, some we’ve known for years – and others we have yet to meet, making memories all over the world. When the time is right, we shall go forth again. Until then, we shall do what we have always done – and dream of distant shores. For while something deep inside us sleeps, we know the sleeper will awaken –
CEO of Trafalgar, Costsaver, and Brendan Vacations
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore! Dream! Discover!”
– Mark Twain
No business makes it through a century without constant innovation, and that is especially true in the world of travel. The drive to innovate must be endless, which is why I keep an old roll of film front and center on my desk. This serves as a constant reminder to me – while Kodak made the best film, they failed to innovate as times changed, and ten years after the invention of digital cameras they went bankrupt.
As part of the third generation of this family business, I have learned a great deal about innovation from my grandfather, my uncle, and my father, who have brought together TTC’s amazing family of brands. Another constant source of inspiration for me is the late Steve Jobs, whose attitude and vision is summed up in the quote in my office here in Geneva:
“Some people say give the customers what they want, but that’s not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they’re going to want before they do. I think Henry Ford once said, ‘If I’d asked customers what they wanted, they would’ve told me a faster horse.’ People don’t know what they want until you show it to them. That’s why I never rely on market research. Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page.”
True innovation, I believe, takes listening, team work, and courage. My job is to listen to our guests, to my team, and to people I trust – both for what is said and what remains unsaid, for the challenge of an innovator is to give people what they want even even before they know it. When it comes to turning dreams into reality, teamwork is absolutely essential. I am incredibly fortunate to work with an extraordinary group of individuals, in all facets of our business, who never focus on can’t but rather on the why and the how it takes to get things done. As for courage, as everyone on my team knows, I believe we must dream big and take bold steps in order to push beyond existing boundaries and change the world.
You can see how all these elements came together in the story behind Be My Guest, one of Trafalgar’s signature programs. Back in 2009, travel meant ticking off the highlights of a destination, seeing the sights, and tasting the local foods. While Trafalgar was the market leader then, as it is now, and travelers were certainly enjoying their holidays, we knew we wanted to take it to a richer, deeper level. We began by asking the big question: Why do we travel? While there are many reasons, the most important seemed to be in order to grow, to learn, and to connect. And what better way to do this anywhere you go than through the eyes of a local? How could our travelers be invited into their houses, to break bread with them, hear their stories over a bottle of wine, and truly experience the world they live in as they see it?
Of course, many at first thought this was a crazy idea. After all, as an individual traveler you would hardly be inclined to knock on a random door and invite yourself in for a meal. But “crazy idea” is often a starting point for innovation, and when I mentioned this to my team one of our Travel Directors smiled and said “You know, I have a couple of aunts who live in Sorrento….”
And so, in May of 2009, we found ourselves climbing up winding cobblestone up a hill to the Espositos sisters’ lemon farm, where we were welcomed with open arms and a feast from their garden.
Though their English was minimal, they offered us the kind of hospitality that goes beyond language – along with homemade limoncello and pasta pomodoro from tomatoes they’d plucked from their garden that morning. We came away full and delighted – and all we could think as we left was how much our guests would love this.
This is how Be My Guest was born.
It was an instant hit, providing exactly the sort of authentic experiences travelers craved, whether they knew it or not. Sadly, the Esposito sisters have since passed on, but the spirit of hospitality they embodied thrives. The program has grown rapidly, as we’ve found hosts all over the world. There’s a tremendous variety, some incorporating music, wine, or olive oil tasting. It’s always something sensory – and we always finish it off with a meal, typically cooked onsite by the family. Be My Guest experiences are now included on every Trafalgar vacation. Depending on the destination, guests might marvel at Andalusian horse riders performing at a rural Portuguese stud farm or visit the Provence home of Poppy Salinger, whose late husband Pierre served as advisor to both John and Robert Kennedy. Travelers to Alberta, Canada, will visit and dine at the Guinn Family Ranch in the spectacular Kananaskis Valley, with pristine views of the Rockies, alpine meadows, and wildlife, while visitors to Alaska can learn first hand about dog sledding from musher David Monson. It would be hard to pick a favorite, as each Be My Guest experience is one of a kind, but a few that spring to mind are…
… foraging with Oonagh on Liscannor Bay on the Wild Irish Way in County Clare, Ireland.
She’ll lead guests through the place she knows so well to discover flowers and delicacies that will be transformed into an Irish feast.
…….in England’s Lake District, where you’ll travel to Hesket Newmarket to meet “Farmer John” as he’s known by locals, in the village where he’s lived his whole life. He’ll show you his farm and introduce you to his dogs – and then his wife, Christine, a brilliant hostess and cook, will welcome you for an amazing spread of cream tea, sandwiches and a jaw-dropping dessert spread.
…..on a farm outside of Dubrovnik, Croatia, where you’ll meet Anton Muhoberac and his family, including his son who will play accordion for you as you cook over an outdoor fire, eat figs, drink the local travarica and dance to traditional music.
…..and at Grove 41 in Paso Robles, California, where Karen will guide you through her olive groves and the oil making process – along with tasting – then tell you her story over an alfresco lunch with local wines.
While our travelers are enjoying these rich experiences, they are also doing good, supporting over 100 local families around the world – all of whom look forward to the return of our travelers as we recover from this pandemic.
For another great TTC innovation, there’s our Brendan Vacations, (which operate in Ireland, Scotland and Great Britain) Chauffer Driven vacations, where we merged our knowledge of touring the British Isles with escorted independent travel. By partnering with Pat Keogh’s chauffer car business, we are able to offer travelers fully customizable hand-crafted vacations bringing together a professional chauffeur and the finest of accommodations.
Another innovation for Trafalgar was in how we tell about what we do. We knew we offered the finest travel experiences available – and so did our guests. We wanted to let them tell the story in real time. We also wanted to make sure their reviews came through with 100% transparency, which is why in 2014 we were the first travel company to post reviews through Feefo.
Now, six years on, we have a 4.7/5 global rating, and have been awarded Feefo’s Platinum status – their highest ranking. The desire to showcase what we did also had a powerful unintended consequence of letting us see how our trips were performing in real time. Our operating teams monitor their Feefo reviews and adjust on the fly, allowing for continual improvement and instant innovation.
Looking back, I remember how much anxiety this caused before going live, as the founder of Feefo later told me. Having never taken on a travel company, he was wary of negative reviews – obviously, he had never traveled with us. “You can’t put this genie back in the bottle,” he had said.
We wouldn’t want to, and we are proud that we were the ones who brought that genie out first.
Of course, any guided holiday company is only as good as their Travel Directors. Ours have always been great, but the spirit of innovation is about constant, relentless improvement. Thus, working alongside our sister TTC companies Insight Vacations and Luxury Gold, we hired the best in the business, a woman who had been head of training for Virgin Atlantic. Then we designed, from scratch, a rigorous, in-depth, multi-tiered experiential training program that would really place the travel directors into the guests’ shoes. The results have been fantastic, and one of the factors that has led to over 50% return rate of our guests.
In travel, personalization is everything, and our innovations in this area have been bolstered by the values of TTC. You can see this in our new phone system that supports all of us, Genesys. While I say “phone,” it is much more, as it will transform the ways all of TTC’s companies interact with travelers, including text, chat, and so on. Using data, we are able to connect our present and future guests with just the right sales consultants, so we are able to answer faster, deliver easy callbacks, and utilize natural voice responses instead of complicated and annoying click through systems. We know that in today’s world of instant contact, high touch points and personalization, this is the next step in us innovating into the future. And yes, we are available 24/7, 365, because that’s when our guests need us.
This drive to personalization has also led to My Travel Portal, which supports every guided vacation brand at TTC – for us, it is My Trafalgar, My Costsaver, and My Brendan Vacations. Available to guests as soon as they’ve booked, they can actively engage with their Travel Director, and tell them anything they may need to know – dietary requirements, physical limitations, birthdays, anniversaries they’re celebrating, things they like, as well offering a place to securely add passport and other contact details, all making for a seamless experience.
In addition to being helpful for the traveler, My Travel Portal lets your Travel Director begin to craft a personalized experience for guests, working behind the scenes, long before the journey begins. This includes special experiences you might like based on your interests, so we can surprise and delight you along the way, exceeding your expectations. I was once on a Trafalgar trip where the Travel Director surprised one of our American guests. He knew that the guest’s father had come from a small town in Italy, and the Travel Director not only surprised him with a visit to that town, but to the very house where his father had been born. Now that is special.
While there are innovations that surprise and delight, there are those born of necessity – especially now. These days, some of the most exciting innovations at TTC are in the realm of traveler wellbeing. Of course, the health and wellbeing of our travelers has always been our top priority, but right at the start of the pandemic, we quickly realized the magnitude of the affect this was about to have on our industry. We would have to bring it to another level. Our chairman, Mr. Stanley Tollman, who has just turned ninety, is sharp as a tack and always leads from the front, called myself and my cousin, Brett, CEO of TTC, back in May this year –
“Our Travel Directors need to focus on delivering exceptional travel experiences,” he said, “and our Drivers need to focus on the task at hand when we travel again. We need a third pair of hands on our trips to take care of all the wellbeing needs of the guests and reassure them.”
Thus, the concept of a Wellbeing Director was born. As you prepare for travel in 2021, Trafalgar, Insight Vacations, and Luxury Gold trips in all regions (apart from Australia, New Zealand and Japan) will have a Wellbeing Director. They will ensure spacing on coaches and keep supplies available and stocked, and call ahead to destinations and liaise with suppliers and hotels to ensure that our stringent protocols are followed, to name just a few of the tasks entrusted to them on the road, with you every step of the way to answer questions and address concerns. (Please watch our new video on this innovative, unique new on tour position, to understand more.)
Another amazing innovation at TTC involves hygiene at Red Carnation Hotels and all ships owned and operated by Uniworld. It’s called Premium Purity, and while we have come to it as a response to COVID-19, it is a fantastic and completely effective approach to cleaning that will serve us long after this pandemic is over. It is both 100% non-toxic and chemical free, removing viruses, bacteria, and microbes with no toxic residue, so it’s healthier for you, for our staff, and our planet.
This leads me to one more area of innovation, which is perhaps the most important, as it affects all of us and this magnificent planet on which we live. As TTC celebrates the success of our first century and the beginning of our second, we are acutely aware of how our travels impact the world. Travel can – and must – be a force for good. This belief shapes everything we do at TTC. It also drives TreadRight, the foundation we founded to ensure that travel has a positive impact on Planet, People, and Wildlife.
We invite you to visit their website to learn the amazing projects they do, many of which we visit and support on our itineraries. Also, if you have not yet taken the TreadRight Pledge to Make Travel Matter, we invite you to join us in doing so. (We also just launched a five year sustainability strategy last month, How We Tread Right, which establishes a detailed, trackable plan for us to be carbon neutral across our entire company before 2030.)
As we prepare to resume travel, we are aware that we are at a crucial time in our history. Many of the ways in which things have been done in the past are simply not sustainable, and must change. Again, it’s worth recalling what Steve Jobs said: “Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity – not a threat.”
As a member of the Tollman family, the head of these three brands, and part of the TTC family as a whole, I am grateful for that opportunity.
Sincerely,
Gavin Tollman
CEO of Trafalgar, Costsaver, and Brendan Vacations
